Music / Jazz
Review: Alex Garnett, Coronation Tap
This was the kind of night the Cori Tap does best – a bunch of highly skilled good time jazzers enjoying playing for a crowded room of appreciative people. It was thanks in part to local sax star James Gardiner Bateman whose London connections have persuaded quite a few big names down to the small cider pub but mainly thanks to the Cori Tap itself, since a previous gig there had impressed Alex Garnett enough to make him want to return.
He brought the same line-up as last year’s St George’s visit but with Andrew Bain depping for James Maddren on drums, an impressive substitution that added a different energetic emphasis in some numbers. The frontline tenor sax pairing of Garnett with Tim Armacost was the same, though, producing some tight harmony work and fluent Dexter Gordon style hard bopping solos as well as nice trade-offs.
The free-flowing ending of Andromeda was a particularly attractive moment as they looped together over a bass and drum duel and floating keyboards from Liam Noble. The piano trio behind the saxes was as much an act as the whole band, with Noble’s invention adding a more intense harmonic texture and Bain’s sizzling drumming giving tides of rhythm for it to ride on.
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But the centre of attention for many was bass man Michael Jamisch who stood out throughout (and not just because of his brighter attire and trademark hat). He’s a fearless player from whom musical ideas just seem to pour out and while his own bands are an impressive showcase it’s when playing for other people in situations like this that his technical proficiency most flourishes.
His hands leapt around the neck of the instrument like hyperactive spider monkeys catching motifs and shifts from the sax players. Even in the Mancini-esque Holmes he found ways to embellish an essentially cool swing number played for laughs – more Clouseau than Sherlock, it seemed. And there were laughs aplenty between the musicians as they played and even for Garnett’s Ronnie Scott style rambling banter.
It was a good humoured and thoroughly enjoyable night that reflected five assured players with great taste in modern jazz.
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